Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today refused to back down following criticism about comments he made about Tea Party Republicans during a Labor Day speech in Detroit suggesting that voters “take these sons-of-bitches out.”
His controversial words Monday came after he told the crowd they needed to help President Barack Obama in 2012. “Everybody here has got a vote,” he said.
In his statement today, Hoffa said: “We didn’t start this war – the right wing did. My comments on Labor Day in Detroit echo the anger and frustration of American workers who are under attack by corporate-funded politicians who want to destroy the middle class.”
• Transcript: Hoffa’s speech from Monday
Hoffa, the son of the iconic Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, was among many labor leaders and politicians who spoke Monday in Detroit before U.S. President Barack Obama’s Labor Day speech.
Hoffa’s comments generated a firestorm of criticism from the Tea Party and other Republicans.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a Facebook post Tuesday, characterized Hoffa’s comments as “thuggery.”
“These union bosses are desperately trying to cast the grassroots Tea Party Movement as being ‘against the workingman,’ ” Palin said. “How outrageously wrong this unapologetic Jim Hoffa is, for the people’s movement is the real movement for working class men and women.”
Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer said the comments were “dangerous and irresponsible.”
“Lying attacks on the tea party movement have disturbingly increased in recent days,” Kremer said in a statement.
Rick Berman, executive director of the Center for Union Facts, said Hoffa’s remarks were not suprising considering his union’s “history of violence.”
UAW President Bob King, in an interview on WJR-760 AM today, declined to defend Hoffa’s “choice of words,” but said he understood why Hoffa made the comments.
“He’s expressing a lot of frustration and anger in what he is saying,” King said. “We see workers going backwards and CEO’s making more than they have ever made….I think what you heard yesterday is some of that anger and frustration.”
Hoffa’s remark came at the end of his four-minute speech.
“President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march,” Hoffa said. “Everybody here has got a vote. If we go back, keep your eye on the prize, lets take these sons-of-bitches out and give America back (inaudible) America where we belong.”
